One of the things that I bemoaned about "indie" for so long was its overly mannered nature — bands that would garner accolades from critics seemed to me like music made for droning one's life away in a vaguely creative cubicle farm, full of beautiful, correctly executed moments that had zero resonance except to serve as placeholders until the next batch of aesthetes came along. Sleigh Bells feels like it was created as a direct protest against this type of music — the songs that spill out of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss are vital and fun, maxing speakers' volume in a bone-shaking way that can't help but transfer outward to the rest of one's person.
It's true. This is the funnest album I've heard in so long (it feels like I've been waiting for it forever, though it's only been seven months, for me), and I've been listening to it all day, today.
My favorite moment? The 1:50 mark in "Infinity Guitars"; up til then, the track's sounded just like the demo from last year, but at 1:50 it just explodes in this glorious way, and it's louder than anything I've heard in a long time. I love it.
The album's streaming on NPR's site, and it's available for purchase on iTunes.
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